Controller for electric cars.



PATENTED 00T. a1, 1905.

P. A. & F. J. ROCHE. CONTROLLER FOR ELECTRIC CARS. APPLICATION FILED MAR 1s 1905 ,n 1. lil

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

FRANCIS A. ROCHE AND FRANCIS J. ROCHE, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

CONTRCLLER FOR ELECTRIC CARS..

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 31, 1905.

Application led March 15, 1905. Serial No. 250,135.

To @ZZ whom t may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRANCIS A. ROCHE and FRANCIS J. ROCHE, citizens of the United States, residing at Somerville, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Controllers for Electric Cars, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like numerals on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to a novel device to be used in connection with a controller or starting-box for an electric motor; and its object is to provide a mechanism which will prevent the operator from turningthe full current on until after the motor has been speeded up. rThe device is especially useful and has been especially designed for use in connection with motors on electric cars, although it may be applied to the switch mechanism of any other motor.

If the motorman on an electric car turns the controller-handle so as to apply the full current before the car is under way, the heat generated by the current is very apt to either blow a fuse or burn out the armature orcause some other damage. The motormen are supposed to operate the controller-handle one step at a time, and thus turn on the current gradually until the car is under way; but they do not always follow this rule.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device to be used in connection with the controller which will compel the motorman to give the controller-handle an intermittent or stcp-by-step movement, and thus prevent him from turning the current on with one movement of the controller-handle. The device is so constructed that after the con troller-handle has been moved one step forward it is locked against further forward movement until the motorman gives said handle a slight backward movement to release it, when it can be moved forward to the second step, where it is brought to rest and locked against further movement until the forward pressure on the handle has been relieved or the handle given a slight backward turn. With our improved construction, therefore, a motorman is compelled to give. the controller-handle a step-by-step or intermittent movement. The device is also so arranged that the handle may be turned from the L on to the off7 position with one movement, thereby permitting the motorman to instantly cut the current of the motor.

Figure 1 is an elevation of a controller having our improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a section on line w, Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a section on line y y, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a section on line a c, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a section on line Fig. 2.

Our invention is illustrated as being applied to the controller of an electric car and is so constructed that it may be put on the controller of any car as an adjunct thereto.

In the drawings, 3 designates the controller on an electric car of any suitable or usual construction, and l is the controller-handle having the stem or shaft 40, which extends into the controller and carries the usual contactfingers.

5 designates a casing or box which may be placed on top of the controller 3, and 6 is a hub or rotary member within the casing or box and through which the shaft 40 extends, said hub being made fast to the shaft in some suitable way. The inner wall 7 of the box or casing 5 is made with a plurality of guideways 8, one for each step or notch of the controller. Movable in said guideways are a plurality of movable stop members 9, the function of which will be hereinafter described.

The hub 6 carries a movable cam member 10, which is herein shown as a ball movable in a groove or guideway 11 in the periphery of the hub, and said hub is also formed with a cam-surface 12, which acts on the stop members 9 as the hub is revolved to move them into position to be further acted on by the cam member l0. The hub 6 is also provided with a stop-shoulder 13, situated behind the cam member and operating as hereinafter set forth.

The stop members 9 normally occupy positions at the bottom of the guideways 8 and are partially received in a groove 8O in the hub 6. The cam-surface l2 is so positioned that it engages the successive stop members as the hub 6 is rotated, thereby raising each one successively into the position a, (shown in Fig. 3,) in which position each is engaged and further elevated by the cam member 10 Ioo as the hub continues its rotation. In the operation of the device the first movement of the hub 6 brings the cam-surface 12 under the rst stop member and raises it into the position a. (Shown in Fig. 3.) Further movement of the hub brings the movable cam 10 into engagement with the stop member, said cam operating to still further raise the stop member into position b, Fig. 3, until the former has passed under the latter, as shown in Fig. 5. As the cam moves out from beneath the stop member the latter begins to slide down in its guideway to its initial position; but unless the hub is moving extremely slowly the stop member is caught and engaged by the stop-shoulder 13, as shown in position c, thereby locking the hub, and consequently the controllershaft,from further forward movement, as seen in Fig. 4. To release the hub, it is necessary to turn it backwardly suiliciently to disengage the stop-shoulder from the stop member and allow said member to be sent to its initial position before turning the hub forwardly again.

The various stop members are located sufciently near together so that when one stop member is passing over the movable cam the next preceding stop member is being raised by the cam-surface 12. It will thus be seen that unless the controller-handle is moving very slowly it is necessary to give it a stepby-step or intermittent motion, as the stop members prevent any rapid movement from off to on position.

The movable cam member 10 is so constructed and located that when the hub 6 is turned backwardly it will ride over the stop members without elevating them, this construction permitting the hub to be turned from the on to the off position with one movement, if desired.

It Will be noted that the cam-surface 12 is shaped to engage and raise the stop members 9 during the backward movement of the hub. 'lhe purpose of this construction is to bring each stop member into its secondary position, so that after the hub has been moved from any given notch back one-stop it can be immediately moved forward to the same notch again.

The stop members may be made of any suitable shape. We have found that balls answer the purpose of the invention and have therefore shown these stop members as balls operating in correspondingly-shaped grooves yor guideways. ln the same way the movable cam member may be made in various shapes without departing from the invention. The

cam member herein shown is merely a ball which is arranged to play up and down in a groove in the hub, said ball acting 'as a 'cam to engage the stop members 9 andV elevate them, as above described. The invention, however, is not limited to this particular type of movable cam, and cams of other shapes may be employed, if desired, without departing from the' invention.

14 designates a stop-pin carried by the hub and operating in a groove l5 in the casing. Said stop-.pin may be located either at the bottom or at the top of the hub, as desired. Vlie have'herein shown it as located at the bottom. The purpose of this stop-pin and groove is to define the eXtreme limits of movement of the controller-handle.

From the above it will be seen that our improvements prohibit the motorman from turning the controller from off to on position with a single movement unless said movement is so slow as to permit the stop members falling by gravity from the position shown in Fig. 4 to their initial position before they are engaged by the stop-shoulder,

and as this can only occur when the hub is turned extremely slowly no harm can result. If the controller-shaft is tu rned with any speed, it is locked or brought to rest at each step or notch until the motorman has turned the handle backwardly sufliciently to release the imprisoned or confined stop member. The important feature of our invention is a plurality of movable stop members, a hub or rotary member having a cam member to engage and move said stop members successively, and a stop-shoulder or abutment carried by the hub or rotary member to engage each stop member, and thus lock the hub from further movement until the stop member has Eeeon released by backward movement of the Various changes in the construction and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the invention.

Having fully described our invention, what weclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In adevice of the class described, acasing having a plurality of movable stop members, ahub rotatable in said casing, said hub having acam to engage and raise the stop members successively, and an abutment or stop-shoulder carried by the hub and adapted to engage the stop members when in their elevated position.

2. In a device of the class described, an annular casing having a plurality of vertical guideways in its inner wall, a stop member movable in each guideway, a hub within the casing, a vertically-movable cam member carried by the hub and adapted to engage each stop member successively and raise it into elevated position, and a stop-shoulder adjacent the cam member and adapted to engage each stop member when in its elevated position.

8. In ra device of the class described, -a mem- IOO TIO

bei` secured to the controller-shaft to rotate In testimony whereof we have signed our IG therewith, said member having an abutment, a names to this specification in the presence of plurality of gravitating stop members, and a two subscribing witnesses.

cam supported to move with the movable memw v 5 ber, said cam in its movement engaging the stop members successively and raising each one into position to be engaged by the abut- Witnesses: ment as said member is turned, whereby said LOUIS C. SMITH,

member is arrested in its turning movement. MARGARET A. DUNN. 

